​First Swiss bank agrees to ‘sellout’ its US clients

The Swiss regional lender Valiant Bank has agreed to a US voluntary disclosure programme aimed at divulging information on American tax evaders.

"The costs of the US program will not jeopardize the
financial stability of Valiant in any way. This decision does not
endanger the distribution of an unchanged dividend," Reuters
quoted Valiant as saying in a statement published late on Monday.

According to an internal review, the bank had never had a lot of
US clients, with Americans being 0.1 percent of its client base,
Valiant said.

Swiss financial regulator FINMA is expecting a number of banks to
agree
to the US clearance examination on any past transgressions, and
face fines which can be up to 50 per cent of the assets depending
on how flagrantly the banks acted in their dealings with American
customers.

The US authorities have been chasing Swiss lenders since they
forced UBS, the country’s biggest bank, to pay $780 million for
its role in contributing to tax evasion in 2009.

The other banks which came under suspicion are EFG International,
St. Gallen Kantonalbank, which owns private bank Hyposwiss, Linth
Bank and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise.

These banks will likely be the first to cooperate with US
authorities; however Switzerland still has hundreds of other
banks on the US list.

If banks refuse to provide information to US authorities,
individual firms and senior staff may run the risk of criminal
prosecution. A dozen of Swiss banks such as Credit Suisse, Julius
Baer, Pictet, and local government-backed Zuercher Kantonalbank
are already under US Department of Justice’s formal investigation
and may refuse to cooperate.